MoD presents War Memorial plan to Delhi bodies

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) The Ministry of Defence has presented a plan for a National War Memorial to regulatory bodies of Delhi for approval, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, in a written reply said the concept plan for the proposed Memorial, which envisages its location around 'Chhatri' in the India Gate complex, had been presented to various regulatory bodies including Delhi Urban Arts Commission, the Central Vista Committee and the Heritage Conservation Committee.

The ministry of Urban Development had also been approached to assign a land around 'Chhatri' in the India Gate complex to the Ministry of Defence for further action, Mr Raju informed.

In another reply, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the lower house that the Army Hospital, Delhi had carried out Nucleus C I 24 type cochlear implant on 125 pre-lingually deaf children in the past three years, with each implant costing Rs 6.10 lakh.

While in the year 2005, 33 implants were carried out, the number increased to 49 in the year 2006. In 2007, 43 implants were carried out.

The children who benefitted from the implant were between one year and 15 years of age. Civilians children are not entitled to avail the surgery at the Army Hospital, the Minister added.

**MTNL The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd had 37 plots where permanent buildings had not yet been constructed. Such plots were being used to house exchanges in temprory structure or base transceiver stations (BTS), the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Communication and IT Dr Shakeel Ahmed, in a written reply, said the MTNL, Delhi had rented out its premises to Union Bank of India and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) at Sarita Vihar and Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, respectively. While Rs 1.45 lakh had been paid as rent by Union Bank, the TRAI had paid Rs 57 lakh as rent to MTNL.

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